


ex machina

by misura



Category: The Luminous Dead - Caitlin Starling
Genre: F/F, Suit Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-02-08 01:57:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21468190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "You won't be having sex with me, Gyre," Em said. "I'm only the one pushing the buttons."
Relationships: Em Arasgain/Gyre Price
Comments: 8
Kudos: 20
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	ex machina

**Author's Note:**

  * For [singedsun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/singedsun/gifts).

> you had me the moment I saw this prompt in your letter.
> 
> happy Yuletide!

_As soon as I get out of here, I'm getting laid._ Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. She would need time to recover, to have her body get used to functioning without the suit.

Still, it made for a nice fantasy. She'd go to some bar, get herself a drink and survey the prospects.

For something like this, Gyre had no intention of being picky. Someone who looked nice and like she'd know what she'd be doing would do fine. It didn't have to be someone who looked like Em, who started out cold and then gradually showed there was more to her than that, more to her than a control freak, a monster.

_Not that a control freak can't be fun in bed._ Gyre grinned, remembering one of her exes. Compared to Em, the woman hadn't been all that bad, but at the time, Gyre had found the whole thing as satisfying inside of the bedroom as she'd found it frustrating outside of it. The relationship hadn't lasted long - a few months before Gyre decided the sex simply wasn't worth it.

She hoped it wouldn't be like that with Em. Not that Gyre seriously expected to get a chance to find out. Em might look like her type, but Gyre seriously doubted the reverse was also true.

Still, a one-night stand perhaps? Even Em had to unwind sometimes after all.

"Gyre. I'm getting some unusual readings."

Gyre swallowed a groan. As long as she was wearing the suit, she couldn't exactly do anything more than a bit of daydreaming. It would be unreasonable to blame Em for interrupting something that hadn't been going anywhere anyway, particularly since there were plenty of things Gyre felt perfectly reasonable blaming Em for.

"It's all right." She wondered how much she needed to say, if she would need to come right out and tell Em she'd been thinking about her naked.

"Are you sure the integrity of your suit hasn't been compromised? Have you touched or tasted or smelled anything unusual?" Em sounded genuinely concerned.

Gyre swallowed a giggle. She'd seen her fair share of pornos where some previously unknown fungus or flower turned out to have some unusual properties, prompting the main characters to have sex right there and then. Multiple times, usually, to allow the movie makers to cram in as many positions and kinks as possible.

Unfortunately, in the real world, most things were much more likely to kill you than make you horny.

"It's all right, Em. Trust me." Gyre wondered how Em would respond to discovering she was the object of Gyre's sexual fantasies. Based on Em's reactions so far, Gyre guessed she wouldn't like it. Best not to bring it up, really; at best, it would only make things awkward between them.

"If you have been dosed with something, that is exactly what you would say. As such, I'm not sure that I should trust your judgment in this. You understand that, don't you?"

Gyre did understand. This wasn't Em being a control freak: this was Em being a responsible handler. It was just Gyre's bad luck that in this one case, Em had no reason to be concerned for her. Gyre was fine.

She felt her body grow warm, her nipples pressing against the suit in a way that shouldn't be possible, because the suit should have simply expanded, functioning as Gyre's second skin. Instead, she felt as if the suit acted as a separate entity, something that was on her, around her, instead of a part of her.

"Gyre." Em's voice had gone soft. "Please answer the question."

"Is this you?" Gyre felt as if something was touching her, cupping her breasts, moving a hand down her thigh. "Em?"

"Your body craves sex. The suit can provide a limited range of physical sensation approximating the appropriate sensations. Alternately, I can use drugs to suppress the craving. There may be side-effects to the latter option though, so I would prefer the former."

Gyre needed a few seconds to translate that to regular English.

"You won't be having sex with me, Gyre," Em said. "I'm only the one pushing the buttons."

_The one in control,_ Gyre thought, feeling her body clench in a way that she knew had nothing to do with anything Em was doing. At least, nothing to do with Em pressing a key on her computer.

"No," she said.

"You prefer the suppressants?" Gyre wondered if it was her imagination that Em sounded just the tiniest bit disappointed.

"No, I meant - I do want you to be the one I'm having sex with."

Em stayed silent for a long time, long enough for Gyre to wonder if she was going to have to try and figure this out by herself after all. Then she said, "Oh," which wasn't much, either, but at least it was something. At least she hadn't left Gyre alone.

"It's - I'm not going to have sex with a suit. That would just be weird," Gyre said, wondering if she was helping at all. "I'd rather have sex with an actual human being, even if it's someone who isn't here." _Even if it's someone like you,_ but then, Gyre wasn't sure if that was even true anymore, if given a choice, she wouldn't have chosen to have sex with Em regardless of everything Em had done, because of all the other things Em had done, too.

"Yes. Of course. I understand." Em tried to sound business-like, professional, but Gyre thought she detected a hint of some other emotion.

"You can keep your clothes on, if you want. Your choice." Watching Em get naked, seeing her touch herself, watching her face as she brought herself to a climax - Gyre thought she'd enjoy that as much as it would feel like torture, like getting taunted with everything that was out of her reach.

"I don't think it would help you if I undressed. Unless that is something you want," Em said.

_What I want is to be up there with you instead of down here by myself - or not by myself, maybe._ "I suppose I'm a bit curious what sort of people you usually date." Gyre wanted Em to say that under other circumstances, Gyre would have been exactly her type. At the same time though, she didn't want that. It would only make things more complicated.

Em grimaced. "I don't do a lot of dating, if you must know."

_Too busy luring in your next victim?_ Gyre thought, though she nodded with what she hoped looked like understanding. Gyre did know what it was like to have a goal, after all, something to chase after that was more important than anything else.

"Shall I begin?" Em asked. "Do you want me to talk you through it?"

Gyre shivered. The idea of Em engaging in any sort of dirty talk should have made her giggle, she thought, because of how ridiculous it sounded. Em would probably be very bad at it.

At the same time, it was hard to imagine Em being bad at anything, particularly something she'd volunteered for. Em might be cold and a monster, but she wasn't _incompetent_.

"Gyre?"

Gyre realized she was wet already. If the suit was as good as simulating human touch as Em seemed to imply, it should be relatively easy to achieve orgasm - and then it would be over. Done. The Em who told her she needed sex, who talked about her love life, who offered Gyre to 'talk her through it' - that Em would be gone again, possibly never to return except in Gyre's future sexual fantasies. "Give me a moment."

"Of course," was what Em said, but Gyre saw her hands move, felt the suit heat up in some places and cool down in others. The phantom touches had returned as well, just close enough to feeling real to have an effect and yet not solid enough to fully satisfy her craving.

Gyre wondered if Em was teasing her, intending to make Gyre beg before granting her release, or if this were simply the limits of the suit. Em had built it, so Gyre assumed she'd know its limitations, but then, would Em have actually built it with this sort of activity in mind? Had she run any tests to determine its ability to make the person who wore it achieve sexual satisfaction?

"I - " _I'm not sure that this is going to work._

"I'm here, Gyre. I've got you. All you need to do is trust me."

_All I need to do to get myself killed, you mean. To let you kill me the way you've killed so many others._ In this moment though, Gyre felt safe. Em had nothing to gain by killing her - and even if she did, there was nothing Gyre could do about it. Em controlled the suit. Em held all the power.

"Close your eyes," Em whispered, and Gyre closed them, feeling her body respond to Em's voice, Em's touch, Em's mouth ghosting over her mouth, her neck, her breasts and down her stomach. Em's hands seemed to be everywhere, knowing exactly where Gyre needed to be touched, stroking and teasing until she'd forgotten that Em wasn't even really here, that what she felt was just the suit, pressing against her skin, simulating human touch, allowing her to pretend she was something other than alone, cut off from all human contact other than Em's voice in her ear, Em's face on her screen.

Em was still whispering, though the words barely registered. Gyre only knew that Em was there, that Em hadn't abandoned her, would never abandon her like she had the others, because Gyre was the one she'd been waiting for, it had always been meant to be Gyre, Gyre, Gyre.

She came hard, and sudden, feeling a wave of exhaustion roll over her right after, as if Em had decided to drug her again, rather than risk Gyre wanting to engage in some pillow talk. Gyre felt herself smile at the thought, even though she knew it should have annoyed her, pissed her off, even, to have Em pull that sort of shit after something like this.


End file.
